In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, President Trump said “there is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea,” but he is hopeful that the U.S. can find other ways to work with the country regarding its nuclear and missile programs. “We’d love to solve things diplomatically,…
The U.S. military on Wednesday started moving parts of a controversial missile defense system to a site in South Korea where it will be installed to help protect against threats from North Korea, as tensions rise over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear weapons programs. Hundreds of local residents protested against the construction of the system, known…
Chinese and Russian spy vessels have been sent to shadow the group of U.S. aircraft carriers that are heading toward North Korean waters, Japanese media outlets reported Monday. The move comes amid escalating tensions surrounding Pyongyang’s nuclear efforts. President Trump has described the vessels as an “armada” and said additional and more powerful submarines are…
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence warned that the “era of strategic patience” with North Korea is over as he kicked off his 10-day Asia tour. Speaking from a joint U.S.-South Korean base near the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea on Monday, Pence said the White House is counting on China to help ease…
On Wednesday, President Trump publicly contradicted several long-stated policy views, bringing his stances more in line with Washington orthodoxy. Meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump said of the military alliance: “I said it was obsolete. It’s no longer obsolete.” A week after calling China the “world champion” of currency manipulation, a common refrain…
Speaking to reporters a week before his scheduled trip to Moscow, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday there is “no doubt in our mind” that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government is behind a chemical attack that killed dozens of Syrians on Tuesday, and “it’s time that the Russians really need to think carefully about…
U.S. officials said Tuesday that North Korea launched a KN-15 missile into the Sea of Japan. This latest test comes days before Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with President Donald Trump in Florida. The two are expected to discuss North Korea. In response to the latest launch, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued a…
President Trump is ready to find a way to deal with the threat of a nuclear North Korea on his own, he told the Financial Times. “If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will,” he said. “That is all I am telling you.” Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the…
China’s foreign ministry confirmed Thursday that President Xi Jinping will travel to Florida April 6-7 for his first meeting with President Trump. The leaders of the world’s largest and second-largest economies will meet at Trump’s private club, Mar-a-Lago, where Trump also hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in February. Unlike Abe, Xi will not stay…
North Korea tested a rocket engine Friday night in the latest of what appears to be a mounting effort by the Hermit Kingdom to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile, U.S. officials told Reuters. The engine test was North Korea’s second such launch this month. North Korea appears to have ramped up its nuclear efforts, officials…
South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Friday permanently removed President Park Geun-hye from office, upholding a vote by lawmakers to impeach her over a corruption scandal. The unanimous ruling came after months of protests and capped a stunning fall for the country’s first woman president. Two people died and about 30 were injured in clashes between…
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Sunday, with three landing in his country’s exclusive economic zone. A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said “several projectiles” fired from North Korea’s North Pyongan province flew about 620 miles. The U.S. and South Korea are conducting…
Malaysia is ending visa-free travel for North Koreans because of security concerns, as the fallout continues over the assassination of the North Korean leader’s half-brother at Kuala Lumpur’s airport. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced the end to the visa-free travel rules on Thursday, a day after two women were charged with murder for…
Kim Jong Nam, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother, has been killed in Malaysia, Reuters reports, citing South Korean government sources. A North Korean man died en route to the hospital after he was allegedly poisoned at Kuala Lumpur’s international airport Monday. South Korea’s cable-news network TV Chosun reported that Kim was poisoned…
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a “lengthy” and “very cordial” phone conversation Thursday evening, the White House said in a statement, and “President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our ‘one China’ policy.” Trump had irked Beijing by speaking with Taiwan’s president on the phone soon after his…
U.S. equities rose on Wednesday after a series of executive orders from President Donald Trump increased bullish sentiment on Wall Street. “Traders have been waiting for more details on infrastructure spending and now they have it in a very clear format,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets. “There is nothing bigger than…
Four of the five remaining survivors of the USS Arizona will gather in Hawaii on Wednesday for a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which sank the Arizona and pulled the U.S. into World War II. There were 335 survivors from the Arizona; 1,177 of its officers and…
China’s official Xinhua News Agency says attackers crashed a pair of vehicles and tossed explosives in an attack in the capitol of Xinjiang. An unknown number of people are dead and injured after the attack near an open air market in Urumqi. Security in the city has been tightened since an attack last month that…
Meanwhile in stone-age!, Brunei became the first East Asian country to adopt Sharia law on Wednesday. The announcement was made during a ceremony by the sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, who leads the oil-rich kingdom on the island of Borneo. The new Islamic criminal law will include punishments like flogging, dismemberment, and stoning for crimes…
